New York – OpEd By Krauthammer: Those Troublesome Jews

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    Backdropped by a banner on a building, Palestinian flags are seen atop fishing boats belonging to Palestinians at the port in Gaza City, Friday June 4, 2010. Tensions are high in the aftermath of an Israeli naval raid targeting an aid flotilla to Gaza that killed nine pro-Palestinian activists in the ensuing clash. The activists on the flotilla hoped to break Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip, imposed after the militant Hamas group  seized power in the territory three years ago. Israel says the blockade is meant to keep weapons out of Gaza and to put pressure on its Hamas rulers.  (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)New York – The world is outraged at Israel’s blockade of Gaza. Turkey denounces its illegality, inhumanity, barbarity, etc. The usual U.N. suspects, Third World and European, join in. The Obama administration dithers.

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    But as Leslie Gelb, former president of the Council on Foreign Relations, writes, the blockade is not just perfectly rational, it is perfectly legal. Gaza under Hamas is a self-declared enemy of Israel — a declaration backed up by more than 4,000 rockets fired at Israeli civilian territory. Yet having pledged itself to unceasing belligerency, Hamas claims victimhood when Israel imposes a blockade to prevent Hamas from arming itself with still more rockets.

    In World War II, with full international legality, the United States blockaded Germany and Japan. And during the October 1962 missile crisis, we blockaded (“quarantined”) Cuba. Arms-bearing Russian ships headed to Cuba turned back because the Soviets knew that the U.S. Navy would either board them or sink them. Yet Israel is accused of international criminality for doing precisely what John Kennedy did: impose a naval blockade to prevent a hostile state from acquiring lethal weaponry.

    Oh, but weren’t the Gaza-bound ships on a mission of humanitarian relief? No. Otherwise they would have accepted Israel’s offer to bring their supplies to an Israeli port, be inspected for military materiel and have the rest trucked by Israel into Gaza — as every week 10,000 tons of food, medicine and other humanitarian supplies are sent by Israel to Gaza.

    Why was the offer refused? Because, as organizer Greta Berlin admitted, the flotilla was not about humanitarian relief but about breaking the blockade, i.e., ending Israel’s inspection regime, which would mean unlimited shipping into Gaza and thus the unlimited arming of Hamas.

    Israel has already twice intercepted ships laden with Iranian arms destined for Hezbollah and Gaza. What country would allow that?

    But even more important, why did Israel even have to resort to blockade? Because, blockade is Israel’s fallback as the world systematically de-legitimizes its traditional ways of defending itself — forward and active defense.

    (1) Forward defense: As a small, densely populated country surrounded by hostile states, Israel had, for its first half-century, adopted forward defense — fighting wars on enemy territory (such as the Sinai and Golan Heights) rather than its own.

    Where possible (Sinai, for example) Israel has traded territory for peace. But where peace offers were refused, Israel retained the territory as a protective buffer zone. Thus Israel retained a small strip of southern Lebanon to protect the villages of northern Israel. And it took many losses in Gaza, rather than expose Israeli border towns to Palestinian terror attacks. It is for the same reason America wages a grinding war in Afghanistan: You fight them there, so you don’t have to fight them here.

    But under overwhelming outside pressure, Israel gave it up. The Israelis were told the occupations were not just illegal but at the root of the anti-Israel insurgencies — and therefore withdrawal, by removing the cause, would bring peace.

    Land for peace. Remember? Well, during the past decade, Israel gave the land — evacuating South Lebanon in 2000 and Gaza in 2005. What did it get? An intensification of belligerency, heavy militarization of the enemy side, multiple kidnappings, cross-border attacks and, from Gaza, years of unrelenting rocket attack.

    (2) Active defense: Israel then had to switch to active defense — military action to disrupt, dismantle and defeat (to borrow President Obama’s description of our campaign against the Taliban and al-Qaeda) the newly armed terrorist mini-states established in southern Lebanon and Gaza after Israel withdrew.

    The result? The Lebanon war of 2006 and Gaza operation of 2008-09. They were met with yet another avalanche of opprobrium and calumny by the same international community that had demanded the land-for-peace Israeli withdrawals in the first place. Worse, the U.N. Goldstone report, which essentially criminalized Israel’s defensive operation in Gaza while whitewashing the casus belli — the preceding and unprovoked Hamas rocket war — effectively de-legitimized any active Israeli defense against its self-declared terror enemies.

    (3) Passive defense: Without forward or active defense, Israel is left with but the most passive and benign of all defenses — a blockade to simply prevent enemy rearmament. Yet, as we speak, this too is headed for international de-legitimation. Even the United States is now moving toward having it abolished.

    But, if none of these is permissible, what’s left?

    Ah, but that’s the point. It’s the point understood by the blockade-busting flotilla of useful idiots and terror sympathizers, by the Turkish front organization that funded it, by the automatic anti-Israel Third World chorus at the United Nations, and by the supine Europeans who’ve had quite enough of the Jewish problem.

    What’s left? Nothing. The whole point of this relentless international campaign is to deprive Israel of any legitimate form of self-defense. Why, just last week, the Obama administration joined the jackals, and reversed four decades of U.S. practice, by signing onto a consensus document that singles out Israel’s possession of nuclear weapons — thus de-legitimizing Israel’s very last line of defense: deterrence.

    The world is tired of these troublesome Jews, 6 million — that number again — hard by the Mediterranean, refusing every invitation to national suicide. For which they are relentlessly demonized, ghettoized and constrained from defending themselves, even as the more committed anti-Zionists — Iranian in particular — openly prepare a more final solution.


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    19 Comments
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    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    13 years ago

    If Hamas means to help the people let them drop their guns into the Mediteranean and give the land back to Abbas to rule.

    eli
    eli
    13 years ago

    Well said!

    Shaya
    Shaya
    13 years ago

    Krauthhammer is a true Ohave Yisroel, and scholar. Some should send this to Obama.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    13 years ago

    At least some one is telling the truth all this is is a precursor to another holocaust if we don’t stop them & we can stop it by doing tsheuvah

    Too Logical
    Too Logical
    13 years ago

    We should remind the Turks (again and again) about their mass killings of the Kurds and Armenians, who only wanted their own ‘homeland.” After all, these groups existed before there was a Turkey! What a bunch of hypocrits!

    well said
    well said
    13 years ago

    Great article. No one says it quite like Charlie !!

    Askupeh
    Askupeh
    13 years ago

    Brilliantly written, and every word the hard and sad truth. Dave, now do you already know why what Obama said isn’t enough? When he says that “the Obama administration dithers”, he is talking to you.

    Obama with his words has joined the relentless international campaign to deprive Israel of any legitimate form of self-defense. That’s why what Obama said is not enough.

    Not About Jews
    Not About Jews
    13 years ago

    This is one episode after another of war promotion done by the world community. It’s appearence is anti-Semitic and that becomes a reality as low-lifes attack in many countries but the real motivation is war-on-terror promotion and I’m just happy that America doesn’t have a president with a name like OsamaBidLaden!

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    13 years ago

    Rahm Emanuel. I hope you and your clique study this op-ed, not just read it .

    Someone
    Someone
    13 years ago

    WOW! What an article, but sadly enough, this piece won’t go into the liberal minded head.

    ezra
    ezra
    13 years ago

    he’s not ohev Yosrol, he is jewish!

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    13 years ago

    The hatred has spilled over to NYC. Yesterday, while waiting for an express bus in front of the main library at 5th Avenue, I saw a well dressed blonde woman put her thumb to her nose while moving her other 4 fingers. At first I didn’t see who this disrespectful gesture was aimed at, then I saw a man in a kippah passing her at the same instant.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    13 years ago

    The United States dithers (meaning that it acts nervously or indecisively, in other words vacillates).

    This is the silver lining in the cloud, Israel should forget about giving away any territory and relying on American promises that it is committed to Israel’s security. Now we see that this commitment cannot be counted on, and a president like Obama will vacillate and come to the rescue only after the medina will be c”v destroyed. America will donate the coffins and say kaddish and light a yohrtzeit candle, and maybe even make a nice statement about how nice these dead Jews were.

    What we learn from this episode is that: don’t rely on anyone but Hashem, not even on America who issues empty promises and can’t be trusted to fulfill them.

    This Condemnation is Good
    This Condemnation is Good
    13 years ago

    “Better the world condemn, then the world be silent…”

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    13 years ago

    Turkey is the original innovator of modern GENOCIDE. Turkey systematically murdered over ONE MILLION ARMENIANS at the turn of the Century. But most shocking, In the past ten years Turkey has continued its GENOCIDAL MURDER OF ITS MINORITY CITIZENS with the murder of THOUSANDS of Turk Citizens of Kurdish ancestry. Turkey is a DISGUSTING OUTLAW NATION like Sudan.

    Just for the record
    Just for the record
    13 years ago

    The turks ‘occupied’ ‘Palestine’ from 1516-1917.

    Upset
    Upset
    13 years ago

    The Turkey is known to be one of dumbest birds! This bird was named after the country Turkey in the 1500s when it was first seen in Europe. We have no one to rely upon but our Father in heaven! (Talmud: Sota)

    eva
    eva
    13 years ago

    Obama is to blame for the rise in ant-semitism all over. His behavior has emboldened our enemies and given tacit encouragement. But of course, we know that according to the Netziv, anti- semitism is Hashem’s stick, and lev melochim vesarim beyad Hashem. It’s time for some serious teshuvah, quick.

    Someone
    Someone
    13 years ago

    We need serious Achdus and Ahavas Yisroel!